TopCat

Caldwell is 20 years old. How can you write anyone off at that age? If he offers some pace from the bench then that's good enough, it not it's not much too lose. Sure he won't be any worse than Caprice or the ilk. The centre back has decent enough pedigree. Livi fans said he was a man mountain and would like him back. He's played for Maribor in the Champions League qualifiers and at u21 international level over there. I'd be happy of we signed those 2 before the start of the season. That then gives us till the end of the window to identify areas of concern and and snap up a couple more loans to give the squad more padding.

Roflcopter.

Tue 15th July Cliftonhill KO 7:45pm Pay at Gate: £7 adult, £3 concessions/u16s. Kids free with adults. Any Buddie going for Tommy's first game in charge? I imagine this will primarily be a young squad with a sprinkling of senior players. Can see the likes of Williams, Ridgers, Hughes and Brown starting.

Well yes. 3 have been promoted from the academy and have been given first team contracts: Adam Brown, Declan Hughes and Mark Williams. I'm happy with the state of the squad at the moment. I think we need 2 more signings, a right sided defender and a pacey forward player. Caldwell and Mevlija (sp?) could be these two players.

Seedings based on your league position from last season! Anyone know what dates the second round - the one we come in - is due to be played?

England 43-1 at the close, Cook out early again, Shami got his leg stump. The home side trail by 414 runs.

It's a kind of gramophone you plug into your computer.

Been quite an afternoon. India lost 4 wickets for something like 5 runs and went 340 odd for 9. The final partnership of two tail enders is now making a heroic last stand and India are 379-9.

Would you rather we signed a free agent on a 1 year deal or a EPL on a 1 year loan? It's effectively the same thing.

Vijay out LBW to Broad on 146. Ironic given that it wasn't out and it would have been overturned on an appeal to the DRS (Decision Review System) but India refuse to use the technology during test matches. India currently 338-5, Dhoni is on 79.

Kello Naismith McAusland Plummer Kelly McGinn Godwin Teale McLean Wylde Thompson

I think our youth academy was poor in the McPherson era, and the players produced reflected that. Our move to our new facility raised the barrier in all aspects of youth development, hence a better quality of player is being produced. We are currently reaping the rewards of the investment into Ralston. 5 of our first choice starting 11 last season were academy graduates, did any other club at our level have such a high ratio? What these lads will go on to achieve, only time will tell. For now they are established first team players for us, and that's all that concerns me really.

How do you subscribe?

Goodness me, what a state you've got yourself into I've been accused of a lot of things on this forum, but not having anything controversial to say is certainly a new one. If you want to be controversial you'll need to do better than saying stuff like 'relegation is looming', that isn't controversial, that's just patent nonsense. The fact is we finished 8th last year despite being hopeless for large parts of the season, we underachieved and still finished safely in 8th. We then expected to lose at least 2 of Kello and McLean, we've kept both of them, there's 2 huge signings. I think have a better starting 11 than every team that finished in the bottom 6 last year at the moment, and squad wise I'd say we are roughly on a par with ICT and St Johnstone from the top 6. We need a couple more players, but so does every single team in the league, infact a good few of them need a lot more than a couple. There's a great feeling around the club at the minute, that's why Kenny and Marian stayed. If you are a Saints fan I suggest you get a sense of perspective and relax, if you aren't (which I suspect strongly) then improve your trolling material.

:bairn

Tomorrow at Trent Bridge in Nottingham Shull. The first of a five match test series, should be epic and Cook will have to go if he doesn't win.

We play in a league with these clubs. Our season will be defined in comparison to our competitors.

That's a nice crystal ball you have there.

I know.

If any team in the league outside Celtic and maybe Aberdeen at a push gets 3 or 4 first team injuries at the same time they will be in trouble. Unlike many others though, we have some fantastic young players coming through our acclaimed academy.

I think they'll be fine too, I also think they'll finish below us.

Not signing anyone before their first competitive game is strange though. You'd think they'd want to get their business done early as their season starts early. He wanted to offer Goodwillie a contract but he 'wasn't in a position to'.

Bizarre set of circumstances there. They win the cup, get to a semi and their gates are up. They lose 3 of their top earners and have signed nobody, now their manager says it's likely no one will come in. Makes our transfer activity seem seismic. I think we will finish above St Johnstone this season.

Didn't we put a request in for an away game first aswell?

It's the only 5 star facility in Scotland, as rated independently by football academy Scotland or similar - could source later.The Old Firm have 6 stars, every other club in the country has 4 stars or less. A magnificent achievement for a club like ours.